Trump administration proposes massive increase in off-shore drilling.WASHINGTON — The Trump administration is proposing to open up 90% of the Outer Continental Shelf off the U.S. coast to oil and gas exploration in the largest single expansion of off-shore drilling activity ever proposed.
“This is a start (of) American energy dominance,” Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke told reporters in a conference call Thursday. “And looking at our offshore assets, beginning a ...

Former congresswoman Michele Bachmann eyes Senate run for Al Franken's seat.Miss the days of Michele Bachmann? You may be in luck.
Bachmann, a conservative who represented Minnesota in the House from 2007 to 2015, said people have asked her to run for Democrat Al Franken's former Senate seat.
"I’ve had people contact me and urge me to run for that Senate seat, and the only reason I would run is for the ability to take these principles into the United States Senate,"...

Trump blasts Pakistan 'deceit' in first tweet of the year.President Donald Trump has accused Pakistan of lying and deceiving the United States while receiving billions of dollars in foreign aid.
In his first tweet of the year, he also alleged Pakistan harboured terrorists.
Pakistan reacted angrily to the tweet, saying all the funding was accounted for and that Mr Trump was bitter due to the "US defeat in Afghanistan".
The US is considering withh...

President Trump fires council advising on HIV/AIDS.President Trump has fired the entire council that advises his administration about the HIV/AIDS epidemic, the Washington Post reported on Saturday.
Patrick Sullivan, an epidemiologist at Emory University in Atlanta who works on HIV testing programs, told the newspaper the members were informed by letter this week that their terminations were effective immediately.
The Washington Post said th...

Trump, post-Christmas, pledges to replace Obamacare and condemns Russia probe.WASHINGTON – President Trump began his post-Christmas break Tuesday with Twitter blasts on two issues likely to dominate his second year in office: Health care and the investigation into Russia interference in his 2016 election.
Trump predicted that Democrats and Republicans will come together to overhaul President Barack Obama's health care law in the coming year, after Congress passed a massi...

Trump's Christmas message to the troops: 'We're winning'.PALM BEACH, Fla. — President Trump had a Christmas Eve message for U.S. troops stationed around the globe: "We're winning."
From his Florida estate, Mar-a-Lago, where Trump is spending the holidays, he spoke by video hook-up to members of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines and Coast Guard, stationed in Qatar, Kuwait and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Trump lavished the troops with praise on “how well...

TV ad thanks Trump for letting us say 'merry Christmas' again.Victory has been declared in the perceived "war on Christmas" and it seems you can't turn around without seeing Americans celebrating the triumph. Everywhere, Christmas lights, Christmas trees and Christmas cheer have broken out to the joyful accompaniment of Christmas songs.
Who is to thank for this yuletide tidal wave?
President Trump, according to a new commercial from America First pol...

Trump signs tax and spending bills, challenges Democrats to work with him on infrastructure next.WASHINGTON – President Trump signed a sweeping tax overhaul on Friday that will slash corporate and individual tax rates, calling it a "bill for the middle class and a bill for jobs" – and was enthusiastic about the prospects of more legislative victories next year.
Trump challenged Democrats to work with him to secure infrastructure funding next year, after his first major legislative win pass...

Deficit could hit $1 trillion in 2018, and that's before the full impact of tax cuts.2018 could be the year the dam bursts on the federal deficit.
Back in June, the Congressional Budget Office projected that the budget deficit — government expenses exceeding revenues — would drop to $563 billion in 2018 from the $666 billion shortfall the Treasury Department declared in the 2017 fiscal year, which ended Sept. 30.
Now budget experts outside government say the 2018 total could...